Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2019

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1122 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 12, 2019 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs AN ACT To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop- ment to carry out a housing choice voucher mobility demonstration to encourage families receiving such voucher assistance to move to lower-poverty areas and expand access to opportunity areas. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Mar 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1122.RFS H1122 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 1122 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Housing Choice Vouch- 2 er Mobility Demonstration Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER MOBILITY DEM- 4 ONSTRATION. 5 (a) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of Housing and 6 Urban Development (in this section referred to as the 7 ‘‘Secretary’’) may carry out a mobility demonstration pro- 8 gram to enable public housing agencies to administer 9 housing choice voucher assistance under section 8(o) of 10 the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 11 1437f(o)) in a manner designed to encourage families re- 12 ceiving such voucher assistance to move to lower-poverty 13 areas and expand access to opportunity areas. 14 (b) SELECTION OF PHAS.— 15 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary shall es- 16 tablish requirements for public housing agencies to 17 participate in the demonstration program under this 18 section, which shall provide that the following public 19 housing agencies may participate: 20 (A) Public housing agencies that to- 21 gether— 22 (i) serve areas with high concentra- 23 tions of holders of rental assistance vouch- 24 ers under section 8(o) of the United States 25 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Mar 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1122.RFS H1122 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 1122 RFS in poor, low-opportunity neighborhoods; 1 and 2 (ii) have an adequate number of mod- 3 erately priced rental units in higher-oppor- 4 tunity areas. 5 (B) Planned consortia or partial consortia 6 of public housing agencies that— 7 (i) include at least one agency with a 8 high-performing Family Self-Sufficiency 9 (FSS) program; and 10 (ii) will enable participating families 11 to continue in such program if they relo- 12 cate to the jurisdiction served by any other 13 agency of the consortium. 14 (C) Planned consortia or partial consortia 15 of public housing agencies that— 16 (i) serve jurisdictions within a single 17 region; 18 (ii) include one or more small agen- 19 cies; and 20 (iii) will consolidate mobility focused 21 operations. 22 (D) Such other public housing agencies as 23 the Secretary considers appropriate. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Mar 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1122.RFS H1122 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 1122 RFS (2) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall 1 establish competitive selection criteria for public 2 housing agencies eligible under paragraph (1) to 3 participate in the demonstration program under this 4 section. 5 (3) RANDOM SELECTION OF FAMILIES.—The 6 Secretary may require participating agencies to use 7 a randomized selection process to select among the 8 families eligible to receive mobility assistance under 9 the demonstration program. 10 (c) REGIONAL HOUSING MOBILITY PLAN.—The Sec- 11 retary shall require each public housing agency applying 12 to participate in the demonstration program under this 13 section to submit a Regional Housing Mobility Plan (in 14 this section referred to as a ‘‘Plan’’), which shall— 15 (1) identify the public housing agencies that 16 will participate under the Plan and the number of 17 vouchers each participating agency will make avail- 18 able out of their existing programs in connection 19 with the demonstration; 20 (2) identify any community-based organizations, 21 nonprofit organizations, businesses, and other enti- 22 ties that will participate under the Plan and describe 23 the commitments for such participation made by 24 each such entity; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Mar 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1122.RFS H1122 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 HR 1122 RFS (3) identify any waivers or alternative require- 1 ments requested for the execution of the Plan; 2 (4) identify any specific actions that the public 3 housing agencies and other entities will undertake to 4 accomplish the goals of the demonstration, which 5 shall include a comprehensive approach to enable a 6 successful transition to opportunity areas and may 7 include counseling and continued support for fami- 8 lies; 9 (5) specify the criteria that the public housing 10 agencies would use to identify opportunity areas 11 under the plan; 12 (6) provide for establishment of priority and 13 preferences for participating families, including a 14 preference for families with young children, as such 15 term is defined by the Secretary, based on regional 16 housing needs and priorities; and 17 (7) comply with any other requirements estab- 18 lished by the Secretary. 19 (d) FUNDING FOR MOBILITY-RELATED SERVICES.— 20 (1) USE OF ADMINISTRATIVE FEES.—Public 21 housing agencies participating in the demonstration 22 program under this section may use administrative 23 fees under section 8(q) of the United States Housing 24 Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(q)), their administra- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Mar 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1122.RFS H1122 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 HR 1122 RFS tive fee reserves, and funding from private entities 1 to provide mobility-related services in connection 2 with the demonstration program, including services 3 such as counseling, portability coordination, landlord 4 outreach, security deposits, and administrative ac- 5 tivities associated with establishing and operating re- 6 gional mobility programs. 7 (2) USE OF HOUSING ASSISTANCE FUNDS.— 8 Public housing agencies participating in the dem- 9 onstration under this section may use housing as- 10 sistance payments funds under section 8(o) of the 11 United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 12 1437f(o)) for security deposits if necessary to enable 13 families to lease units with vouchers in designated 14 opportunity areas. 15 (e) WAIVERS; ALTERNATIVE REQUIREMENTS.— 16 (1) WAIVERS.—To allow for public housing 17 agencies to implement and administer their Regional 18 Housing Mobility Plans, the Secretary may waive or 19 specify alternative requirements for the following 20 provisions of the United States Housing Act of 21 1937: 22 (A) Sections 8(o)(7)(A) and 8(o)(13)(E)(i) 23 (relating to the term of a lease and mobility re- 24 quirements). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Mar 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1122.RFS H1122 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 HR 1122 RFS (B) Section 8(o)(13)(C)(i) (relating to the 1 public housing plan for an agency). 2 (C) Section 8(r)(2) (relating to the respon- 3 sibility of a public housing agency to administer 4 ported assistance). 5 (2) ALTERNATIVE REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec- 6 retary shall provide additional authority for public 7 housing agencies in a selected region to form a con- 8 sortium that has a single housing choice voucher 9 funding contract, or to enter into a partial consor- 10 tium to operate all or portions of the Regional Hous- 11 ing Mobility Plan, including agencies participating in 12 the Moving To Work Demonstration program. 13 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Any waiver or alter- 14 native requirements pursuant to this subsection shall 15 not take effect before the expiration of the 10-day 16 period beginning upon publication of notice of such 17 waiver or alternative requirement in the Federal 18 Register. 19 (f) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary may imple- 20 ment the demonstration, including its terms, procedures, 21 requirements, and conditions, by notice. 22 (g) EVALUATION.—Not later than 5 years after im- 23 plementation of the regional housing mobility programs 24 under the demonstration program under this section, the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Mar 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1122.RFS H1122 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 HR 1122 RFS Secretary shall submit to the Congress and publish in the 1 Federal Register a report evaluating the effectiveness of 2 the strategies pursued under the demonstration, subject 3 to the availability of funding to conduct the evaluation. 4 Through official websites and other methods, the Sec- 5 retary shall disseminate interim findings as they become 6 available, and shall, if promising strategies are identified, 7 notify the Congress of the amount of funds that would 8 be required to expand the testing of these strategies in 9 additional types of public housing agencies and housing 10 markets. 11 Passed the House of Representatives March 11, 2019. Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, Clerk. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:09 Mar 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1122.RFS H1122 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS